


Like sands through an hourglass

by chiapslock



Series: Shiro Week 2017 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternative Universe - Witches, Angst, M/M, Shiro Week 2017, Yes this is another witch!AU, alternative universe, but this is super sad :')
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 12:06:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12770718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiapslock/pseuds/chiapslock
Summary: His own time, ironically, is the only thing a time mage has no control over. Shiro, as one of the last time mages, knows this well.In the wake of Zarkon's return he has to give up his own time, to give everyone else the chance to have theirs.[Writter for the first day of Shiro Week 2017; Day 1: Time/Space]





	Like sands through an hourglass

**Author's Note:**

> This was written very quick, but I liked the idea. I'm sorry this is very angsty, and I put a little bit of hope in the end but.... yeah this it is what it is!  
> Hope you guys enjoy it, I just want our favourite 6yo to have a great week.

The truth is: no one else can do this.

It should make Shiro afraid, to have such a big responsibility on his hands, but he feels relieved. He has to do this, simply because there aren’t any other choices.

The magic that flows inside his veins is as rare as it is dangerous, but Shiro has known that his entire life. While other mages were encouraged to experiment with their spells, Shiro had always been warned by the consequences. Protected, but feared.

He had still tried like everyone else, of course, young and reckless and he still bears in mind the consequences of that day. A week of his life sacrificed in the name of young rebellion. The truth is that it could have been worse.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like he has the entirety of time at his disposal, that he could reverse, accelerate or stop the flow of time with just a flicker of his wrist; it feels like time is an enemy that he has to fight every day in a battle that he’s destined to lose.

There is a price to be paid for such powerful magic after all.

They told him that Time magic was beautiful to watch; the moment time breaks itself and is reformed anew in a purple glow. Shiro will never know if they speak the truth, since the moment he performs magic his own time stops until the magic is completed.

Once, they asked him how it feels to be stuck in time, an entity that doesn’t exist and exists at the same time, but it doesn’t feel like anything at all. One second he’s casting the magic, the next he’s waking up and a week has passed in the world.

He wonders if it will feel any differently, now that he has to let thousands of years pass him by—Allura had assured him it was the same, that no matter how much time he will be stuck in his timeless form just a second will pass in between closing his eyes and opening them again. He’s not sure if it’s a good thing.

Allura had been doing it for ten thousand years, she had stood timeless while her family, her city, an entire civilization passed her by. If her magic was strong enough now, she had said, she would do it again, just to spare someone else this terrible fate.

Her magic isn’t, after ten thousand years of constant use. Shiro’s is, and at this point there doesn’t seem to be another option to protect the people from Zarkon.

Zarkon, the most powerful mage of his generation, who had terrorized the entire population ten thousand years ago with his spatial distortion abilities. If he wanted he could destroy the city in a second and right now only the tireless work of some of their best space mages is stopping him from doing it.

Ten thousand years ago Allura had sacrificed herself to stop Zarkon’s time and put an end to his reign of terror. Now, Shiro will do the same thing.

There had been a ceremony in his honor, a somber and respectful goodbye where everyone had promised he would be remembered for the years to come. Shiro had hated it, but he had accepted it for the message it was supposed to be.

The noise of advancing footsteps startles Shiro out of his musing and he turns, surprised someone is even in this area of the school—he had hoped to be alone, hiding in the balcony on the west side of the building. He’s less surprised when he sees Keith, slightly illuminated by the moon.

Keith had avoided him the whole day and Shiro had let him, cowardly, because he hadn’t known what he could have said to make the situation better.

Shiro is the only one who can do it, they both know it, and it makes everything easier. And harder.

“Keith...” he starts, forcing himself to smile. He still doesn’t know what to say, in what way he can make the anger he sees simmering under Keith’s skin vanish. The irony is that he doesn’t have any more _time_ to figure it out.

“Don’t do it.” Keith’s voice is harsh, aggressive. He’s ready for a fight and he intends to win it.

“I can’t,” Shiro answers anyway, even if they are both aware of that. “I’m the only one who can do it.”

“We can keep him at bay for a while longer,” Keith reasons, his movements a little bit feverish. He looks pale, but Shiro doesn’t know if it’s the glow of the night or something else. “I will defeat him. I just need more _time_.”

Keith is, to say the least, _gifted_. His magic is strong and growing stronger every single day, his space manipulation the strongest the Garrison has registered in centuries. Shiro had looked over his training, had tried to teach him how to harness his energy into spell casting.

He hopes that these lessons will stay with Keith.

“I know,” Shiro concedes, because if there is one thing he believes in this world is Keith, “I’m giving you the time you need.”

Keith’s eyes harden and he shakes his head. “ _That’s_ not the time I need. Please,” he begs, and he must be tired. He looks defeated, like they have already lost the war. In a certain sense, Shiro supposes, they have.

Shiro advances then, because he has been denying himself things for way too long, because this may be the last day of his life. Because he’s unable to stay still when Keith is there, almost as if he’s pulled with a gravitational force that’s stronger than any of Zarkon’s magic.

“Ask me anything my magic can give you and I will grant it to you,” Shiro murmurs, when they are close enough that he could touch Keith’s face with his hand.

Keith looks wrecked up close, like he has aged years in the last hours.

“I need more time with you,” Keith admits in the end, a whisper and a prayer. The only thing Shiro has never been able to give. A Time mage, after all, can control all the time in the universe but his own.

Shiro’s _time_ had never been his to give.

However he knows that he can’t leave it like this. That as much as he can’t, he would do anything to stop the time of the entire world except for his and Keith’s.

“You know I can’t give you that,” Shiro says in the end, and he hopes Keith understands the rest, that he doesn’t have to actually say how much he would want to.

Keith’s shoulders sag under the weight of his words, under the realization that there is nothing else to be done. Shiro will sacrifice his own time tomorrow, and will live suspended in between time. The rest of the world will forget him, cities will rise and fall, Keith will die and Shiro will remain unmovable.

“I will defeat him,” Keith repeats, but his words lack the anger and the resolution that Keith usually shines with. The man Shiro has in front of him is a shadow of the one he knows.

This hurts him more than the knowledge of the sacrifice that destiny has forced upon him.

He acts then, finally raises his hand to touch Keith’s face and puts their forehead together. “I am counting on you,” he says, making sure Keith doesn’t avert his gaze, “you have to find a way to defeat Zarkon and wake me up. I _believe_ in you.”

Keith looks surprised for a moment, almost as if a part of him had believed Shiro had already given up. When the meaning behind Shiro’s words sink in, Keith’s eyes come to life again. The fire that always drawn Shiro in, the vibrant energy that he had come to love, shines brighter than ever.

“Then you better wait for me,” Keith says, grabbing the collar of Shiro’s ceremonial tunic, “because I’m not going to stop.”

The kiss is light and quick, a promise of something to come. The hope of something to hold on to. And yet Shiro closes his eyes and lets a bit of magic flow, he can feel it on the tip of his fingers, tingling. He stops time, his and of those around them. He stops the time of the entire universe so that Keith can have this moment, a second that lasts a life time.

When he opens his eyes Keith’s face is still inches away from his and he’s looking at him intensely. Shiro doesn’t know how much time has passed for Keith, and he doesn’t want to know.

“Thank you,” Keith only says and Shiro thinks that if Keith only asked he would give him much _much_ more.

 

 

The sun shines on his skin the next day, offering him a welcomed warmth. There aren’t many people gathered to assist him in his casting, and it makes it easier that way.

He’s dressed in the finest tunic that their tailors can offer and the material is itchy on his skin. He wears it anyway, and thanks them profusely.

Keith is in the back of the room, as one of the mages that will be responsible of making sure none of Zarkon’s followers will be able to kill Shiro and restart their lord’s time, and Shiro holds his gaze while he starts casting.

The magic pulses inside of him, binding him to his target. It works slowly with spells so strong and if Shiro looked down he could probably see, for the first time in his life, what form his magic takes, the beautiful colors everyone had tried describing to him. Shiro doesn’t look down and stares at Keith, for as long as he can.

He believes in Keith, believes he will see him again, but if he does not, he wants his last memory to be of him.

**Author's Note:**

> As always comments and kudos go a long way into making me a happy writer and they mean the world to me.
> 
> You can find me on twitter as chiapslock and tumblr as fatty-arbuckle.
> 
> Thank you so much <3


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